In this episode, we meet the founder and head mead-maker, John Herman, from Lazy Z Ranch Wines in Sisters. Lazy Z’s meads, aka honey wine and “ranch wine,” aren’t just unique among Oregon meaderies for using exclusively Oregon honey, but the Lazy Z Ranch is a boon for local pollinators. What’s more, there’s no a tasting room in Lazy Z’s big, smiling barn that you pass every time you head into Sisters.
In this episode, we meet head brewer Matt “Kat” Katakura from Wild Ride Brewing in both Redmond and Prineville. We discuss some keys to experimental R&D brewing from working with delicate ingredients like tea to indelicate ones like chili peppers, as well as what it takes to brew the tried and true classics.
We are thrilled to be joined by Boneyard Beer founder and brewmaster, Tony Lawrence, who walk us through the trials, tribulations and meanderings of his auspicious 36 year career in beer that all started here in Bend
Meet Ryan Evans, co-founder of Shift Naturals. Shift’s hemp-derived THC beverages are revolutionizing Oregon’s, and the nation’s. hemp bev landscape in ways most consumers still don’t fully understand, but aren’t complaining about.
In this episode, we meet Barbara Stone and Nathan Smith from Abstrax, the cannabis and beer industry extract company, to discuss how terpenes are revolutionizing the cannabis, beer, and entire CPG (consumer packaged goods) industries and why Bend breweries get first crack at these innovations.
GCB sits down with Sunriver Brewing’s director, Brett Thomas, to discuss Sunriver’s impressive tenure of quality that’s led to numerous awards locally (Oregon Beer Awards), nationally (Great American Beer Festival including as the reigning Brewery of the Year) and globally (World Beer Cup). As Sunriver prepares to open its 5th tasting room, we also tackle how great its pub burger is and that their fried avocado app is back, baby! Release date: 6 May 2025
GCB sits down with the OG Kombucha Mama, Michelle Mitchell, co-founder of Bend’s own Humm Kombucha, to learn about Humm’s humble beginnings in Mitchell’s kitchen experimenting with brewing kombucha, to how big the kombucha market has become and where it fits into today’s drink landscape. Release date: 17 April 2025
GCB sits down with mixologist Camille Cavan— who specializes in mocktails—to discuss all facets of the zero-proof movement from who the various customers are to the range of flavors, pricing, and benefits of going semi-sober, completely sober, or “California sober.” Release date: 10 April 2025
GCB talks with Silver Moon Brewing co-owner James Watts to discuss Bend’s third oldest brewery’s upcoming 25th anniversary and how the brewery, and the industry, have grown including how beer itself is no longer the sole thirst-slaker at such pubs. Silver Moon has plenty of both up its sleeve to commemorate the 1/4-century-mark kicking off with sponsoring Bend Brews & Beyond this Memorial Day. Plus, Watts explains why Silver Moon’s new Cross Joint IPA smells like it would be served not at a brewpub but at a dispensary. Release date: 28 March 2025
GCB talks with Trever Hawman, owner/brewer of Bridge 99 Brewery in Bend’s “Brewers District” to discuss Bridge 99 Taproom’s recent 10-year anniversary and how the taplist has evolved over the past decade including how and why nearly every beer is now gluten free. And why there’s a non-alcoholic beer and an honest to goodness classic root beer made from scratch. We finish chatting about Shorty, Bridge 99’s vintage Chevy snub nose tap truck that will be in operation at Bend Brews & Beyond over Memorial Day weekend. Release date: 13 March 2025
GCB talks to Courtney Stevens, co-owner of Bend’s Craft Kitchen & Brewery about launching the brewpub with her husband, Mark, and hosting tons of events including open-mic comedy where Courtney performs.
GCB podcast talks to Bend’s best beer hunters (as in, they’re on the hunt for Bend’s best brewery)–Adam, Joe, Justin, and Matt–as we discuss launching their second round of their hunt for the best brewery in Central Oregon based on a largely scientific/entirely fun method of tasting through local beers to determine which is the best local brewery.
GCB podcast returns with Bevel Craft Brewing’s co-owners Nate and Valerie Doss as we discuss Bevel’s 5th anniversary party this weekend, their segue from professional disc golfers to pro brewers, and something called a “tropical cold IPA” from one of Bend’s most hop-forward breweries that will debut at the Bend Bands & Brewers Bash on June 28.
Grand Craft Bend podcast returns with Silver Moon Brewing owner James Watts as we discuss the brewery/venue’s upcoming BevFest and Bend Bands & Brewers Bash
This episode welcomes Cascade Lakes Brewing’s owner, Andy Rhine, and brewmaster, Ryan Schmiege. We discuss what’s new with Central Oregon’s second oldest brewery that’s turning 30 years old, craft beer styles that have come, gone, and come back again during that time, and why the Rhine family recently converted it into Oregon’s second-ever not-for-profit brewery.
This episode welcomes Crux Fermentation Project’s assistant brewmaster, Grand, er, Grant McFarren. With a brewery, er, fermentation project like Crux that has so many plates spinning from new beers using new hops to new locations like its pub in Portland (and perhaps another new spot in Bend), to its surprising best-selling offerings, not to mention upcoming fermented beverages, we spend time covering it all.
This episode of Grand Craft BEND welcomes Robin and Todd Clement, founders of Monkless Belgian Ales. The Clements personify a Hollywood love story, if Hollywood was a beer-soaked high desert town that focused on true and truly lovable characters. Whereas the Monkless Brasserie became the brewing company’s sequel, we learn about the upcoming Monkless Abbey to complete the trilogy.
This episode welcomes Mark and Dana Henion who make up two thirds of the owners–and one half of the name–of Van Henion Brewing. The Henions, along with John Van Duzer, launched Van Henion in early 2022 and have been making Bend’s most celebrated lagers ever since. They brew on a large, 50-barrel system that could be called “Frankensteined” making it less nimble for small batches, but Van Henion’s pedigree and affable owners makes them desirable collaboration partners.
This episode welcomes the Midtown Yacht Club’s general manager and beer buyer, Alesha Goodman. This beer bar–which is increasingly a “beyond beer” bar for its non-beer inventory from cider to hard and soft seltzers and other non-alcoholic drinks–is centrally located on 4th Street. How convenient for a spot that aims to be the center of Bend Life with large menus at all seven food trucks. It’s also the hub for the 2nd annual Flannel Fest on Feb. 3, a winter warmer ale fest that raises money, food, and warm gear for Bethlehem Inn serving Central Oregon homeless families, and every donation gets raffle tickets to win brewery branded flannels every half hour.
This episode welcomes Vance Wirtz, brewer at McMenamins Old St. Francis. While almost everyone knows about hidden rooms and bars, not everyone knows OSF has a brewery on-site, but hidden from view. It’s where Vance turns his lager-centric mash paddle to making everything from Bamberg-style smoked lagers to Vermont-centric Hop Pillow D.H.I.P.A. He also gives listeners a sneak peak of the 11th annual High Gravity Fest hosted at OSF on January 13, 2024
In this episode we kick off 2024 with Alesong Brewing and Blending’s Matt Van Wyk, whose many hats include owner, brewer, and runner-arounder to get Alesong’s award-winning barrel-aged beers all across Oregon including Bend. While Van Wyk is accustomed to fitting bungs in bungholes, his real specialty is fitting his quixotic, square peg beers (bourbon-aged stouts, cocktail-inspired sours, and farmhouse-style ciders) into the current beer industry’s IPA-shaped round hole.
In this episode, Christmas doesn’t come early, it comes year-round via Deschutes Brewery’s Cellar Reserve beers thanks to guest and barrel program manager, Dustin Jamison. Jamison lords over “Oakland,” the portion of Deschutes’ warehouse devoted to oak barrels from which its barrel-aged beers—such as The Abyss, The Dissident, and Black Butte3—emanate from. From bourbon-aged stouts to wine-aged sour beers (to an amphora-aged bockbier), Deschutes’s offerings extend far beyond fresh squeezed IPAs into the realm of decidedly un-fresh wood-aged beers.
In this episode of the Grand Craft Beer Podcast, we focus on…a different beer podcast. Our guest is Shannon McMenamin—whose father, Mike McMenamin, along with Shannon’s uncle, Brian—founded the McMenamins empire of breweries, pubs, and hotels 40 years ago. Her new podcast, The Red Shed Tapes, focuses on the wealth of stories from all those renowned places and spaces (including Old St. Francis in Bend), managed with the help of Rob Vallance, who also joins the show. Listen to find out more about the 40 year’s worth of stories of this uniquely Pacific Northwest empire.
GCB’s host & cicerone Brian Yaeger features Bend’s all-women owned craft brewery, Spider City this week. Brewmaster/co-owner Melani Betti, along with her twin sister Michele and their friend Tammy Treat, launched Spider City five years ago. Melani discusses how her world-travels with her twin influence the global beer styles always on tap at Spider City.
In this episode of Grand Craft Beer, host and cicerone Brian Yaeger welcomes James Owen, brewmaster at Immersion Brewing. They talk about Owen getting to completely overhaul the Box Factory brewpub’s recipes when he came on board just two years ago so as to refresh and revive the lager program, the IPA program, the international beer style program and still finding time to both learn how to snowboard AND become an instructor since moving to Bend in 2021.
For this episode of Grand Craft Beer we’re joined by the author of 100 Things to Do in Bend, Joshua Savage. As a fellow beer lover, we explore perfect fall beer styles. As the writer behind The Source’s series “Savage in Bend: Exploring the Quirks That Make Central Oregon Unique,”
GCB’s Brian Yaeger is joined by Oregon beer legend, Tim Ensign, Director of Sales & Marketing for Steeplejack Brewing in Portland. They discuss the ins’n’outs of what is a critical, yet perhaps purposefully, overlooked role in the beer industry: sales and marketing, especially when it comes to breweries outside Central Oregon.
GCB welcomes The Ale Apothecary’s founder/brewmaster Paul Arney. Since 2011, Ale Apothecary has been Bend’s only all-wild brewery… except it’s now launching The AlePharm for non “wild” ales. From batch 1, which was a Finnish-inspired Sahti, to the newest Swedish-inspired Gotlandstrcka made with smoked malt and brewed for the upcoming Diff’rent Smokes Fest, Arney boasts a treasure trove of imaginative, finely-crafted beers for those who drink beyond the mainstream.
This time GCB welcomes Jeff Cornett and Emily Richmond of Three Creeks Brewing in Sisters. Crack your own can of Conelick’r Fresh Hop IPA (brewed with ultra-fresh Centennial hops) and drink alongside as Brian and his guests talk about the brewery’s 15 years of brewing and hosting the Sisters Fresh Hop Festival on September 23.
This week we dive into the nearly-invisible yet sightly-incredible world of Flanders Brown Ales, aka Our Bruins, the 17th century style of Belgian sour beer that, thanks to breweries like Deschutes, are still around… if you know where to look. Along with the Source’s food editor Donna Britt we explore a vertical eating of The Dissident from 2023, 2019, and 2015.
We hear from Oblivion Brewing’s founder/brewer Darin Botschy. As Oblivion turns 10, Botschy reflects on the first decade and what we can expect in the next decade. That starts with the upcoming Oblivion Pour House so S.E. Bendites will get the freshest Oblivion Blonde possible, all while keeping the tasting room running at the production brewery in the Northeast Brewers District where Oblivion will be one of five breweries hosting the inaugural Bend Radler Fest.
Let’s welcome Trever Hawman, owner/brewer of Bridge 99 Brewery in NE Bend. We discuss his ascent from homebrewer to nanobrewer to the state of his 15-barrel brewery, as well as being situated in the shadow of 10 Barrel Brewing, newly released by AB-InBev. We also announce the creation of Bend Radler Fest, where all five breweries in Boyd Acres (Bridge 99, Craft Kitchen, Oblivion, Van Henion, and 10 Barrel) will be offering radlers (half beer, half soft drink) for radlers (it’s the German word for cyclist) who wish to tackle the 1.5 mile trail that connects them all.
It all started here with this premiere episode featuring my friend and fellow Certified Cicerone, Franklin Gordon, who’s one of Bend’s best beer buyers.
Oh, and if you’ve made it this far, perhaps I can also interest you in an ongoing series of stories I call “Over a Pint.” Y’see, Beer writers interview brewers all the time and frequently socialize with them, too, but typically at some type of beerfest or event. So here’s the idea: anyone with some type of beer blog is welcome to participate.
Hence: “Over a pint.” Er, #OverAPint. Sort of in the vein of The Session kicked off by Stan Hiernymous exactly 8 years ago in 2007 and still going strong. But whereas The Session entails a different blogger each month conceiving a disparate topic related to beer wherein everyone aims for that target and then said blogger hosts the discussion on his or her web-log, I’m envisioning just two instructions.
Head out with someone who brews for a living and talk to them over a pint (or more) without recording it or taking any notes. Just chat. About stuff.
Brian Yaeger: Beer Writer 